ANNAMANIACS : MARTINA HINGIS
 

It's a great rivalry now and it will be much greater in the future. Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis. Hingis , a terrible good player , with terrible looks. Hingis is currently far the best player , but Anna , the Williams' sisters and Lucic are coming ! The battle of teenage girls : Martina Hingis.


 
Born in Kosice, Slovakia she was named after the world ladies tennis champion Martina Navratilova.She first started to play Tennis at the ripe old age of three and started to play in tournaments at the mature age of five!!. Things then started to move on quickly, just six years from picking up a racket she became the Czechoslovakian Champion at nine. It was at this time she and her mother moved to a new residence and Country adopting Switzerland as their new home.

Nearing the age of twelve she become the Swiss outdoor champion, just over a year later she added the indoor title as well!!. In 1991 she entered into the Junior Championship at the French Open and landed her first serious title, later that same year she played in the Junior Tournament at Wimbledon where she reached the Semi-finals.

For the next two years she remained the Swiss indoor/outdoor champion and regained her status as French Junior champion, she did not enter the Swiss indoor championship in 1994 but landed her first Wimbledon Junior title and was the finalist in the US open Junior Championship held at Flushing Meadow.

She was now the European Ladies No.1, and shortly afterwards she turned professional on October 14 that year.

In 1995 her first full season in the professional ranks she finished runner-up at her first WTA-tournament in Hamburg, and landed the doubles title at the same tournament.

Her first singles title soon followed as she was successful in winning the Le Cap D'agde tournament, beating household names such as Huber, Novotna, Malejeva, Sanchez and Pierce. This success lead to her new highest ranking reaching the number 16 spot on the WTA-list.

In 1996 she Reached Hopman Cup Final Beating Steffi Graf, Brenda Schultz, Lindsay Davenport, Iva Majoli, Gabriella Sabatini, Anke Huber, Jana Novotna and Aranxta Sanchez. This moved her to the number 8 spot on the WTA-list, she then teamed up with Helena Sukova in the Ladies Doubles at the Wimbledon Championships that year and entered the record books as the youngest Wimbledon winner ever.

On to the US Open where she finished as a semifinalist and ended the year on a high note beating Steffi Graf in three sets.

Now to the present, a year which started very well in the blistering heat of Australia where she cruised through to her first ever grand slam final beating Mary Pierce, and for good measure landed the doubles as well. Her passion for horses was probably her undoing at the French Open when five weeks before the championships began, she fell off her trusty steed and injured her thigh.
 

Career Highlights

1997

  • Won her third Grand Slam of the year, winning the U.S. Open 6-0, 6-4, over Venus Williams
  • Has claimed nine titles on the year as of August 3, including six straight tournaments to open the year
  • Has defeated former world No. 1 Monica Seles in all four matches they've played on the year
  • Overtook Steffi Graf as the world's No. 1 player following her straight-sets victory over Monica Seles to win the Lipton Championships

    • 1996

  • Won her first two career titles, capturing both the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and Bank of the West Classic
  • Advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open
  • Reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open by stunning third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and No. 7 seed Jana Novotna
  • Became the youngest Wimbledon champion ever when she won the doubles title with Helena Sukova
  • Won more than $1.3 million on the year, becoming the youngest man or woman to reach the $1 million mark in earnings
  • Lost to Graf in a five-set final at the WTA Tour Championships

    • 1995

  • Became the youngest player to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament when she advanced to the second round at the Australian Open

    • 1994
    Turned pro in October, two weeks after her 14th birthday

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    © The Annamaniacs   4-5-1998   All Rights Reserved
     
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